Telegram founder ready to help ‘Romanian democracy’

Pavel Durov has pledged to testify on the country’s election after defeated candidate George Simion asked to annul results over alleged fraud

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has promised to come to Romania and testify on the alleged foreign interference into the country’s presidential election.

Durov promised to “help” the Romanian democracy in a post on X on Tuesday, responding to a message by George Simion, a Eurosceptic right-wing candidate who narrowly lost the election. Simion claimed the polls were subject to “external interferences by state and non-state actors,” including France and Moldova, and urged the country’s Constitutional Court to immediately annul the results.

“I’m ready to come and testify if it helps Romanian democracy,” Durov wrote in response to Simion’s post.

The Sunday runoff was won by pro-EU centrist Nicusor Dan by a margin of 53.6% to 46.4%. Simion, however, refused to recognize the outcome, accusing foreign parties of attempting to undermine his campaign. 

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Simion’s claims received unexpected backing from Durov, who has claimed that French foreign intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner personally asked him to censor conservatives on his platform ahead of the latest attempt to elect Romania’s president. France’s foreign intelligence service, the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), has denied the claims, insisting it had contacted the Telegram founder only to “firmly remind him of his company’s responsibilities, and his own personally, in preventing terrorist and child pornography threats.”

Durov was arrested in France last August and charged with complicity in crimes allegedly carried out by Telegram users. The Russian-born entrepreneur, whose company is headquartered in Dubai,was ultimately released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail and allowed to leave the country mid-March.

The latest attempt to elect the president in Romania follows a major political scandal prompted by the November vote, when the first round was unexpectedly won by hardline right-wing independent Calin Georgescu. The initial vote was promptly annulled by Romania’s Constitutional Court, which cited alleged Russian interference. 

Media reports citing initial findings of the probe into the affair indicated Georgescu’s surprise surge was likely prompted by a campaign staged by a firm with ties to the ruling National Liberal Party, which presumably sought to split the conservative vote. Georgescu, however, was ultimately banned from participating in the new election. 

Romania’s Foreign Ministry has accused Moscow of meddling in the latest runoff as well. The Russian government has dismissed the claim, stating that Bucharest’s “electoral mess” shouldn’t even count as a proper vote.